“Our people. Demon blood. That demon that’s pestering her. We’re doing an experiment. Kindara thinks demon blood may work as a painkiller. So far it has. No side effects, though. I was so hoping.”
Mallory shook her head at him. Sometimes, he really confused her. “Why would you want side effects?”
“Because Kindara’s demon is an Incubus, you know? A sex demon. Thought it would be fun…” His leer this time burned her, and Mallory shivered. Even hurt and loopy, he somehow managed to make her hormones take notice.
She’d deal with the idea of Rathan being a sex demon later.
“Sleep. You couldn’t do anything even if I let you.” His injuries were too bad, too numerous, to allow for sex.
And that did nothing but make her feel guilty. She hadn’t meant to get him hurt. Did others blame her for the whole thing, the same way Cormac and Kindara probably still did?
She didn’t think she’d ever like that particular vampire guy. She was reserving judgment on Kindara.
“Oh, I think I could.”
“Are you sleeping here tonight?”
“I do not plan to spend even a single night away from my Rajni. No. I will join you.” He pulled himself to his feet and staggered a bit. Her hands came up reflexively to catch him. “Female of mine, I may need some assistance, though. Pity. I so wanted to take advantage of Incubus blood…I busied myself thinking of the ways to seduce you while Kinney was sewing me back together…”
With that, he fell straight forward, landing on the carpet. Mallory dove to her knees beside him, panic and fear having her heart racing.
He released a soft snore, and air finally filled her lungs again.
Just passed out.
Mal considered calling for help but had second thoughts. He was just sleeping. Aodhan pulled his hands up and pillowed his head on his crossed arms, the same position he slept in most every night unless his arms were wrapped around her. His breathing was soft and even. Sleeping, and peacefully. There wasn’t anything else the healer could do for him; if there was, no doubt Kindara already would have done it.
She stood, then pulled a blanket off the back of the couch. He’d be so cold there on the floor. She spread it over him carefully, ensuring the blanket covered as much of him as possible. She hurried into the bedroom and pulled the larger comforter off the bed and used it over him instead. It wasn’t easy; he was such a large vampire. Strong.
Yet Rand had managed to do so much damage to him. What if Rand had gotten a hold of her? Even with her defense skills, Rand would have seriously injured her. Probably worse than Joselyn had been injured.
Rand could have killed her. Aodhan had protected her.
Immediately. Willingly.
The one man she thought would always protect her had almost killed her—and the vampire who’d planned to kill her at first sight had almost died to protect her.
Mallory’s breath came out in a long shudder as that sank in.
Her hands were gentle on him when she brushed the hair off his forehead. “Just what am I supposed to do now?”
She was in trouble, serious, serious trouble.
34
Mallory sat by his side for hours, running her fingers through his hair and ensuring he didn’t jerk around, opening stitches. Her voice calmed him each time he stirred.
It took her a while to realize she was almost petting him. She lied to herself, told herself it was just because he’d been hurt. Making sure he didn’t develop a fever or any of the other complications they’d had to watch out for with Joselyn. It gave her plenty of time to think. To worry.
To doubt why she was fighting what everyone—including a demon—accepted as fact.
Everyone in her family seemed to accept the idea of Rajnis completely. Everyone except her.
If she accepted what they did, that meant accepting the vampire in front of her. Accepting what he said was between them. Fated.
There was definitely something there between them.
Mallory leaned down and brushed a kiss against his lips, just needing to taste him for a moment.
She fell asleep cuddled against him with those thoughts repeating over and over in her mind.
She didn’t know how many hours had passed since she’d fallen asleep on the floor next to him. Mallory came back to consciousness knowing that she never wanted to sleep on a cold marble floor again.
She did know that he was awake, and so were his hands. And other parts of his body. She was flat on her back on the hard floor, and he leaned over her. His fingers were fast at work on her tunic.
Mallory arched against him before she could stop herself. “What are you doing? You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Not by doing this. You taste so sweet. Why haven’t you let me taste you here before? You have the most perfect breasts I have ever seen in almost six hundred years. Please don’t tell me to stop. I will if you want me to, but it’ll be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Do you know what kind of dreams Incubus blood can cause?”
Mal thought about pushing him away but couldn’t bring herself to do it. His lips trailed down and settled around one nipple and tugged lightly. She gasped. His tongue soothed. She gasped out his name. Just his name, nothing more.
“I hunger like a sex-starved Incubi on a ten-year-drought. No wonder that demon bastard can’t keep his hands off Kindara.” His teeth nipped at her neck. Mallory gasped as fire shot straight from her neck to her stomach. “Just one taste. Or three, maybe.”
For the first time in a long time, heat burned in her gut. Sexual heat. Hot, intense, healthy lust.
It brought tears to her eyes. Her fingers sank into his hair, and she pulled gently. He paused, then looked at her.
“Kitten? Do you want me to stop?”
Mallory shook her head. The last thing she wanted was for him to stop. Not when she was finally feeling like this for a man—vampire—once again. “Will you…kiss me?”
He didn’t have to be asked twice. He seemed to understand that she wasn’t asking for heat, but for gentleness. He brushed his lips against hers, then pressed a little harder, a little deeper.
Mallory slipped her hands from his hair and locked her arms behind his shoulders.
He kept the kiss gentle, tasting and teasing her. She ran a light hand over his shoulder and down his chest. The stitches were rough beneath her fingers. She pulled her head back, breaking the kiss. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not hurting my brother. For not—” For not pushing her. He hadn’t pushed her; he’d come close a time or two, but she had always had the knowledge that he would stop if she told him to.
He’d stop if she told him to. She had never doubted that, not since the moment she’d first awoken on his lap drinking from him.
She had trusted him. That realization was what frightened her the most.
After those initial few days she hadn’t feared him at all. He’d kept her captive, but she hadn’t truly feared him. She couldn’t have left—but now she wasn’t so sure she would have, even if she could have.
Maybe the cage had mostly been of her own making.
“Mallory? Do you want me to kiss you? To touch you? Or do you want me to stop?”
She pulled in a deep breath, the movement pushing her half-naked chest against his. The burn of his skin scorched her. “I…I don’t want you to stop.”
His eyes widened just a tiny bit and his hand tightened on her breast. “Whenever you do, just tell me. I will never do something you do not want. You are my Rajni, and your happiness is what matters. Even in this. We have centuries to end up in bed together now. We don’t have to rush things today.”
Mallory nodded. She understood the significance of what she was doing. It was decision time. If she—they—did this, there was no going back.
35
He saw the trust that shone in her green eyes. She meant it. She finally wanted him. He brushed a strand of red hair off her forehead. Aodhan’s hands shook with
the need to go slow. To cherish.
She was frightened of what they were about to do. Frightened of him? Frightened of the sex itself? He kissed her forehead, tasting the sweet, perfect taste of his female. No other female in the world would taste quite like her. He murmured soft noises designed to comfort as he stood and did his damnedest to pull her up with him. He didn’t care if he opened every one of the stitches holding his skin together, but he knew she would. That mattered. Despite the urgings of his body to scoop his female into his arms, he refrained.
“Our first time together should be in our bed.” He held out a hand to her, waiting for her final decision. “Mallory, will you come with me?”
He’d never forget the slightly vulnerable, slightly excited look his female turned up at him in the moment that she took his hand.
Her vestis was partially undone, her feminine flesh exposed and beautiful. Aodhan had to let her lead. Had to give her all the choices.
Aodhan backed up until the back of his knees hit the mattress, then sat. It put her above him, and he sensed instinctively that was what she needed. He guided her hands to his shoulders, then slipped his hands down the vestis hanging open.
He slipped the turquoise linen off her shoulders, letting the material pool around her feet. Her bra followed. His hands rose, and he cupped her, running his thumbs over her nipples. The skin puckered, and he smiled when she gasped. “You are beautiful. Here. And everywhere.”
“I have scars. From when he cut me.” Her head went back proudly, almost as if she was daring him to dismiss her claim. He’d seen the silvery lines along her sides. “They are ugly.”
“He was ugly. Never you. And you are not the only one with battle scars, my little kitten. My own body bears the marks of my past.” He brushed loving fingers over the marks on her skin.
She shook her head. “Dardaptoans do not scar.”
“Unless the wounds are grievous. Do these make me ugly?” He traced the lines from swordfights long ended across his own chest. “Or these, perhaps? I gained them fighting to protect a young girl from a band of Civil War deserters. Sixteen human men died that day, but that girl was safe. I watched over her for the rest of her life. She died with fifteen great-grandchildren next to her bed.”
Her fingers followed the path his had taken. “What all have you done? What have you seen?”
“More than you can imagine. But what I see now is what I have been waiting my whole life to see.” He fought the urge to wrap his hands around her waist and pull her tightly against him. Then he thought better of fighting it and did just that, holding her for a moment before she leaned back. He flicked her nipple with his tongue. Her breath caught again, and that thrilled him. He covered it with his mouth and sucked it deep.
She arched against him, her moan turning to a squeak that had him smiling. Responsive. His female was responding to her male.
36
Mallory didn’t think any man’s touch had ever felt like Aodhan’s. Her knees threatened to buckle, and she told him, resisting the urge to beg him to never stop. He wrapped his hands around her thighs. He buried his face in her stomach. “Goddess, female, you smell good. Tell me what you want, and I promise you I’ll give it to you.”
“I want—” Mallory didn’t think words could even describe the need filling her. “More.”
His laugh tickled her abdomen, and Mallory squealed. The sound freed some of the inhibitions that had taken hold of her for a moment. If she was going to do this—and she certainly thought she was—she was going to do it right. Her fingers sank into the chestnut curls above his ears, and she pulled his head up. “Kiss me. Right now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She dove into the kiss just as hot and hard as he did. Then her hands were everywhere, his were everywhere, and for several long moments, they absorbed the taste and feel of each other.
Mallory didn’t know how she ended up on the bed, but she strongly suspected she’d crawled up his lap. He wrapped a strong arm around her waist and turned them both until the turquoise silk of the sheet was beneath her back. He leaned over her, strong and fierce.
A warrior. Her warrior.
Her hands traced every muscle of his chest, to soothe the wounds still red and raw, and to familiarize herself with his shape. With the touch of his skin. His mouth pressed against hers, all the heat concentrated in that one spot.
There was no taking, no force. Just him caring about her.
And her caring about him.
This time, it was Mallory who kissed him. His hands touched her everywhere, and she was just as fervent as he. His left hand slipped the pardus from her, leaving her in nothing but a white scrap of underwear. The underwear followed, hitting the floor where he threw them.
A moment of uncertainty took hold. Her hand dropped to cover the worst of the scars where they wrapped around her hip. Plastic surgery had only done so much to remove the marks of the attack. They would always be there. Always.
A reminder of what she’d lost that day.
Masculine fingers covered hers, forcing her hand to relax over the marred flesh.
His gold eyes stared into hers. “You are beautiful. Every inch of you was made for me. Just as every piece of me is yours. For the taking. I am yours. You are in control now. Just make the decision, kitten, to take what the goddess has decreed is yours.”
Mallory pulled in a deep breath and did just that. No more moments of hesitation—he was hers. She took and took from him, and he let her. Laughed at her fervency. Appreciated it. Before it was over, she was nipping at him and tasting him where she wanted, and just making her own demands, ever careful of the slashes on his skin. Demands he readily met.
His hands were just as busy, touching her everywhere. Stroking her delicate skin until every nerve in her body hummed in pleasure. When she thought she could take no more, he guided her legs around his hips. She felt him against her in every way that mattered.
She eagerly tightened her legs around him, her hands pulling him closer. “Hurry, Aodhan. Please. But be careful. Don’t hurt yourself.”
“I will never hurt myself by loving my female.” He nipped along her neck, sending streaks of lust straight to her abdomen. She shivered and held him tighter as he pushed inside her easily.
Mallory cried out at how perfect it felt.
She arched to meet him, locking her ankles around his waist as he began to move.
His teeth sank deep into her neck, and sensation so hot and so right shot through her that it was several moments before she was aware of the world around her again.
He held her against his chest while she tried to catch her breath, his hands hot but gentle on her skin. “I did not hurt you, did I? I did not take too much?”
“You didn’t take anything that I did not give.”
Just how true that was stabbed through her, and Mallory wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him.
37
Mallory couldn’t avoid him all day, and she needed to check on his injuries, make sure he hadn’t hurt himself any worse when he’d lifted her or twisted around on the bed. They’d gotten a bit more physical last night than she wanted to think about right now.
That thought gave her a warm little thrill that she tried to ignore.
She found him in his office surrounded by his friends. Mallory studied him quickly.
He looked ok, though the stitches on his arms were still visible beneath where he’d rolled the sleeves of his turquoise vestis partially.
“Mallory? Kitten, is there something you needed? I’ll be finished here shortly.” His tone was tender and his gaze warm. Mallory felt a flush hit her cheeks. No doubt his friends knew exactly what they’d done the night before. Aodhan’s smirk had to have given it away. Big jerk.
She could easily see he was proud of himself.
“I want to see Rand.” No. She wanted to see her vampire. Just to touch him for a moment. Make certain the night before had been real. Absolute honesty with herself—that
was the only way she’d ever be able to deal.
He nodded. “Of course. Can you give us ten minutes? I can meet you in the lobby.”
Mal nodded. Maybe in that ten minutes, she could decide what to say to both of them—Rand and Aodhan.
Aodhan’s sister and Kindara were in the lobby when she got there. But it was Rathan who caught her attention. Rathan and the bags they all carried.
“We’re going to Relaklonos,” Aureliana said, motioning to Rathan. “Apparently, the demon thinks some of the medical knowledge in his realm will be beneficial to our people.”
“Aodhan used demon blood last night.” Mallory still couldn’t fathom that the man she’d known for almost ten years was a demon. She’d kissed an actual sex demon. Well, no wonder Rand had been so cranky that night she’d slept curled up in Rathan’s arms. “He said it worked.”
“Yes.” Kindara studied Mallory and had Mallory squirming. “No side effects?”
“No negatives that I’m aware of. Aodhan seems fine this morning. He’s supposed to join me. We’re going to talk to my brother for a while.”
Rathan wrapped a hand around her elbow. He hugged her gently and rocked. Comforted. Like he had before. “Your brother loves you. But he’s facing a struggle now. You know how he is.”
“No. I don’t. Not anymore. He should have told me, Rath. Made me understand. He’s alone only because he wanted to be.”
“Just remember that he does love you. He was afraid that what he is would have terrified you, sweetling. More than he loves anyone else on the planet—other than his new mate—he loves you. And what he feels for her is terrifying him—and confusing him. In the meantime, don’t let your vampire give him or you too much trouble while I’m gone, ok?”
She hugged him tightly again, then let him go. Even if he was an actual demon, Mallory would always love him. Always.
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